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County to host partners on Leon and Cow House flood study; 14 new gauges planned across watershed
Summary
County staff and consultants outlined plans to install 14 additional flood sensors across the Leon and Cow House watersheds, add signage, share real-time data with the sheriff and school districts, and convene a groundwater-model briefing for the county.
County officials and consultants described progress on a multi-jurisdictional study of the Leon River and Cow House watersheds and said they will install 14 additional flood-monitoring gauges across the study area.
Manning, a consultant attending Tuesday, told the court Blackland will fund seven of the new sensors and ACF (American Conservation Foundation) will fund seven more. “So we’re gonna put 14 additional gauges,” Manning said. He said the gauges will supplement existing U.S. Geological Survey stations and that site selection will factor in accessibility, proximity to roads and the need to fill gaps in existing coverage.
The sensors are intended to feed a county early-warning system used by the sheriff’s office and other responders. Manning said data will be integrated with school-bus tracking to warn districts and drivers about flooded crossings. “We’ll be able to tell where those crossings are flooded and get that out to folks like school districts and Road & Bridge and the public,” he said.
Staff also described funding for signage at known low-water crossings, and said some devices or signage might be installed on private property with landowner permission. Manning said Fort Cavazos (the military installation) already has instruments behind its fence line but needs upstream data; project partners said the installation is “absolutely” interested in upstream readouts.
In addition to surface sensors, Blackland and partners proposed a Coryell-County–focused groundwater model. Manning said the model is designed to answer county-specific questions about groundwater availability and impacts of development; Blackland officials offered to brief county officials on the groundwater model in late June or mid-July to gather local questions and priorities.
Why it matters: the combined sensor network, signage and modeling aim to give first responders, Road & Bridge and school districts earlier, location-specific warnings about roadway flooding and to inform long-term water-resource decisions.
No formal court vote was taken on sensor siting; staff said they will return with specific proposed sensor locations and proposed dates for the groundwater-model briefing.
